Help me, Dell tricked me!

Well thinking I would finaly get a decent PC that is worth upgradeing I bought a Dell Dimension 2350 (p42.2GHZ,256RAM). Anyway I just found out that my peice of crap Dell has a mother board that doesn't even have a AGP slot(no good video cards for me ><). I need to know what I should do from here on... What would be a good budget mother board that is viable with my Dell/p42.2ghz with an AGP slot(s)(Don't know much about video cards... I was planning to get a FX5200.. so what ever is compatible) and that can hold a good amount of ram and also be not too hard to overclock(I heard that abits are good ,but I don't know wich would I would need for my peice of a machine)

Please reply with some advice or else I'm going to through this peice of crap Dell out my window.

Edit#1: Also, forgot to ask; what is a cheap but good ram?(that would be compatible with my peice of crap Dell)

Edit#2: Also, If this isn't clear I plan on buying new ram acorse(at least a gig) and keeping the 2.2ghz P4 processor.

Edit#3: Its 9:23 ... around 30 minutes after I created this thread; I'm going to sleep. I await your replys in the morning.

A good P4 motherboard would be the Abit IS7 which can be had for ~95$ I believe. It seems you have a 400FSB P4 and I'm not sure if the IS7 supports that or just the 533/800 FSB P4 models. If your processor is 400FSB then I'm not sure what a good mobo would be, but someone will probably fill that in. Anyway, as for RAM -- if you don't plan on overclocking then any PC2100 that runs at it's rated speeds is fine, unless you can find some low latency (CAS2) sticks. You wouldn't get far in overclocking with PC2100 anyway. But if you do get the Abit IS7 then you have support for the higher speed RAM like PC3200. If I were you I'd sell my current RAM to a friend and buy two 512MB sticks of low-latency PC3200, like Corsair XMS rated for CAS2 or Buffalo Technology w/ the Winbond BH-5 modules. You may also need to purchase a new case and/or a PSU.

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By the way, for a video card the FX 5200 isn't the best choice right now in terms of value. A good card to get would be the Radeon 9500 Pro or 9600 XT. Personally I'd choose the 9500 Pro over the 9600 XT because it has 8 pipelines compared to the 9600 XT's 4. But, 9500 Pro's are kind of hard to find right now, a good bet would be eBay.
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What I'd be most worried about is whether or not your dell machine has a severely proprietary case. Some of those dells use really screwed up cases that aren't anywhere close to standard via mounting, or connections to the front panel (power switch, leds etc), some have proprietary powersupplies as well which require a special connection to the motherboard which isn't found on a standard board.

If you definitely can replace the board without proprietary issues, then I agree an Abit would probably be a good choice. Just do some research and open your case first to take a look at the layout so you don't end up wasting money on a board that you can't use in that case anyway.

Well this is interesting

My Kids old dell 800 system had a Regukar power supply. As far as i know Dell switched to Statdard supplies awhile ago.

My first question is what kind of case? Mini tower? Mid tower?. This fact alone is going to give an idea of what MOBO you can use. If its a Mini, You are going to be stuck with a MICRO ATX Mobo. But not to worry, Asus and Gigabyte and such are making some of there High end and budget boards in the micro ATX config.

Ill look up your case on the net and give ya more ideas ok? BUT a model # would help, so i could actually look up the exact rig you have sitting in front of you. You can PM me with The serial and stuff if ya want.

OK Ive been looking, And i really need to know How many Expansion slots you have in the BACK of the case? 3? 4? The ones at the bottom for expansion cards. Because your board only has 3 PCI slots, (hope you have atleast 4 openings you can use) If not the only Micro ATX boards that ANYONE is making have Either only 3 PCI slots, OR 1 AGP and 3 PCI slots.
Info on openings on the back of case would help alot.

BTW The 200Watt PSU needs upgradeing if you goto a AGP card. Its a little On the low side.


Harry

OK Heres your choices as i see it5.

#1 You have a Statdard power supply with standard connectors. (looked up on dell, Exact model in refurbs). So Get yourself a better powersupply atleast 300-350 watts.

#2 The case is a Micro tower with 4 slots in the back(this in itself gives you a better choice in boards)


I found a couple boards(micro) That would do you VERY well comnpaired to your board now.

Abit IS-10 $79 on mewegg.com

Asus P4V533MX $57 on newegg.

Id get the Abit, just because of Better ram support.

Hope this gives you your answers. Also the Abti boards are Quite easy to OC i think.

Now once you do this yourself, You will not be to aprehensive to go out and build your next rig yourself. Instead of buying OEM. People on these forums will help you out with everything. Cases, boards, proggys ECT. Since ive found this place ive built 6 rigs for friends, And am going to build 2 more for me and my kid.

I WILL NEVER buy another OEM rig in my life!

Harry

I'm looking for the exact make of my dell right now. Also, can you guys talk a bit less techy? I'm not that great with computers

Edit: Well I've searched around and havent really found it ,but I will find a picture of the case and tell you what it specs are.(sorta)

Came with:
256mb ram
40gb HD
intel mobo(extreme graphics bs)

Picture:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ndexURL=1&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

Mines about the same as this picture accepts I don't have a floppy drive and mines a bit better.

Also the harry, what do these slots look like(I don't know jack )

I beleive you're gong to find that it's a propietary case. First check and see how the front panel connects to the motherboard. It's usually a connector group on the lower right hand corner of the motherboard. Is a bunch of small wires with individual clips or one larger connector? If it's the latter and you're not severely dedicated to resplicing and resoldering wires you're pretty much screwed. I had a micron desktop I wanted to replace the mobo in and that was the situation, it couldn't be done with out a ton of hassle. Fortunately that lead to me building my first rig, and the rest is history.
I haven't checked lately but you use to could get PCI graphics cards. They won't produce near the results of of an AGP card, but it's an option.
As far as ram etc. we'll need more info. With Micron I was able to go online and searched the shipping documentation and find the specific motherboard model and specs. This would greatly facililtate answering your questions.
And as far as not being "techy", stick around here and it won't take long!
Welcome!

EDIT: Even the model # of your rig could help us trace it down.

I think your correct about my case ><, also the model number; I'm not sure where to find this.

Edit: Well since I have been tricked by that damn Dell comercial... what are my options for any uprades?

Dude

I looked at the specs of your exact model. Your case Does not look propriatary. I looked at scamatics of your board(took all morning to find this info.) And i gave you the Motherboard choices in my post. Mrgreen, His board is atandard MicroATX with Standard layout. His power supply has the offset Mounting screws. Its Industry standard. Picture was included with Motherboard Specs.Now if the front USB ports dont fit, Thats just a loss, But you can buy a Expansion card that will give you 4 more USB ports on back. I redid an Emachiens case and It worked fine. Edit( Im looking at the Pic of the motherboard, And It may be proprietary. Cant tell. If you look in the case ON the board, Is the plug on the lower right ONE plug? Or A bunch of Sperate ones? But I still say, The emachiens i did Had only 3 plugs, Ya just had to flip them upside down to get them to work. If not look at it this way, Cases are cheap Dude. get one. And IF you do that, As long as its a mid tower, you Have tons more choices of Motherboards that are Regular ATX.

Now with that said, Either board i sugessted will be a great upgrade to what you currently have.

As for the slots on the back, They are On the bottom, In A line. They look like Long Thin punch outs. BUT I did see the back of the case you have, And you have 4 So the boards i gave ya have the 1AGP slot and 3 PCI.

Im sorry you learned the hard way about dell.

Good luck, And shop Newegg, shipping is fast and Prices are great.

Harry

I looked on my pcs for the slots, I found that one is in use for a modem I think, I use dsl my self(also how does that play into my choices of boards; if it does) and I do have 3 others.

Edit: Also what would be a good tutorial or manual or something explaining parts of PC's and how to change them ect.. I can change the mobo myself I'm sure ,but Its just I realized that I don't know nearly enough about PC's then I should.

Also thank you for takeing your time and helping me(all and especialy harry)

Welp good so far,

Now check that Lower right plug. A pic of the inside of your Case would be great. Close up of the lower right would help ALOT. You can send the pic to me in email if you want.

Harry

I don't have a scanner but I'll see what I can do, give me a bit I know I've seen an pic of the inside of my case on a site before.

COOL

Get it to me as soon as ya can.


Harry

I found a picture thats an the same model but has a floppy drive it seems http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2768747395&category=51140

From what i can see,

You might be ok. What do you think MrGreen? If the plugs are labeled with The PWR, LED,HDD, Ect. It just might line up with the new board. Like i said, On the emachiens i did for a friend, Alls i did was make sure the Plug wires were matched and flipped the plug upside down and all was well. Dang wish i had a digital pic of your plug and Connectors. BTW Floppy drives are useless anyway unless you are flashing a bios for a graphics card anyway. Most new boards come with a utility that does it for you now.


harry

Ok say I get Abit IS-10 $79 on mewegg.com what ram/vid card should I get?

Edit:
I found that dells tutorials suck on replaceing the mobo, I think I know how to do it my self but what scares me the the processor... I really don't want to damage it so anyone know a good toturial on it besides:
http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/systems/dim2350/replace.htm#1114089

also, if you need more specific info on something inside my computer I will try and get it for you... even if I have to open my computer for the 100th time today..lol

did a bit of research on video cards and prices and found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2767892336&category=40158

I'm trying to keep the card under 200$ so how bout this one?

Ok, yeah you lucked out that this isn't one of those super proprietary boards that has extra riser cards and what not. Looks like a very standard mounting scheme. That's good.

I'm trying to figure out about the front panel connectors, (like I said before, front panel connectors are what connects your power switch to your motherboard, your harddrive light and power light etc etc.) This is where we could use some information from you.

It appears to me that the connectors for all that stuff are basically one big solid black plastic housing. But I could be wrong since the picture is kind of small. What we need you to do, is open up your own case. Look at the picture on the link you sent us, that has the picture of the inside of the case. You see at the bottom right hand corner, the light blue wires running from the board to up into the front of the case? Those are probably your front USB connections... don't really worry about them I'm just using those as an easy to find landmark. Find where those blue connectors connect to the board in that picture, then look right even further, and up. There's a set of lots of very small wires that connect to the board. All different colors, white, red, black etc etc.

Those little wires are what is connecting your motherboard's power switch and harddrive light and all that fun stuff. Standard motherboards and cases have each one of the connections as a separate little 2 pin plug (some use a larger housing, like system speaker has 4 holes, but there's still only 2 wires.) A proprietary system like this might be, might have alllll of those wires into one single large black connector, so that all those wires just run into that one big black plug and that plugs into the motherboard. That's where you'll run into trouble, if it's just one big black plug. If it is, the way it sounds you'll be better off buying a new case most likely, which opens up some options as far as better motherboards. If they are broken up into the individual connectors, then that case should work just fine, and you can just go with Harry's suggestions to get some boards for this case.

It would be possible to take that one big solid black plug and basically cut it apart, but it takes a lot of effort and if you're not too into the whole splicing of wires thing and resetting up the connections it's not an easy thing to do. But as it's been said, cases are cheap, you can find some really decent ones on newegg for very little money, so that sho uldn't be too much of a worry.

sec

The little twist of cords just over the blue usb cords all go to the lights, the power supply going into the HD connets to a 4 pin white thing, and the big trist of cords all comeing from my powersupply go onto the Mobo into another white thing simular to the one on the HD but its 4x times as large and also is white.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3444065374&category=44943
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3443502720&category=3669

How long ago did you get your Dell?

about 3 months

I'm thinking about just makeing a new rig, with alot of the parts off this dell and gradualy uprade them all.

Still would like to know if my case is ok or not... but if its not I found a l337 looking one that overclockers just reviewed.

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/868w.html